Sheffield face unfairest tax of all

Martin Smith
Features Editor

SHEFFIELD’S most vulnerable council tenants could lose up to 25 per cent of their housing benefit when the Government’s ‘Bedroom Tax’ kicks in on Monday.

Around 7,000 households with spare bedrooms face massive cuts if they refuse to move to smaller properties - even though the council has nowhere for them to go.

Protest groups are springing up across the city as the full scale of the changes hits home and Southey ward councillor Tony Damms said: “We just don’t have 7,000 properties for people to move in to. We let 4,000 properties a year to people on the waiting list and we currently get 12,000 applications for those.

“It’s simply a way for the Government to impose a £10billion benefits cut.”

Sheffield University population expert Danny Dorling today accuses the government of ‘pride and stupidity’ in bringing in the tax which is expected to cause hardship across the country.